"I was ripped off by Kate Hudson's Fabletics and it cost me $450"

Madeline Hoskin |
June 23, 2016

I fell for "the biggest scam in online fashion". Do NOT make the same mistake.

I'm not the type of person to usually feel hard done by when it comes to my retail purchases. If the pants I ordered online happen to be a tad too tight, I'll palm them off on a friend. If a jacket is a little loose, I'll say "I like it baggy."

BUT - after six months of having $49US (up to $80AU) taken from my bank account each month without me realising - Fabletics had gone too far, and I found myself doing something I NEVER thought I'd do. I wrote a complaint on their Facebook wall:

The Fabletics trap

Fabletics is Kate Hudson's US-based activewear business, and it is finally copping some heat in Australia after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) voiced concerns about the potentially illegal and misleading way the company has set up its 'VIP membership' program. They lure you in with huge discounts on your first purchase, make you 'sign up' to receive the discounts ... then charge a monthly fee of US$49.95 to let you maintain your 'VIP' status.

As someone who fell for this VIP trap first hand - I can tell you, it's something that could easily happen to anyone.

Why would you do this to me, Kate!?

I was scammed

I joined Fabletics in August 2015 after seeing an ad on Facebook that said something along the lines of 'Get your first outfit for $25'.

It sounded like a bargain to me. I jumped online, purchased a pair of leggings and a workout top, and headed for the checkout. I signed up for the VIP membership in order to get the discount ... not realising I was signing up for a monthly payment of US$49.95.

In January 2016 I noticed an odd withdrawal from my account with the name 'Fabletics' next to it. I hadn't made any recent purchases with them - so I was confused. My first thought was that they were accidentally charging me for someone else's purchase. So I wrote them an email:

Hello, I have only purchased one item ever from Fabletics, that was for $49.95 USD and was taken out of my account on 13 September 2015. However, I just noticed you have taken a further $49.95 out of my account that went through on 9 January 2016. Would you please offer an explanation for this and refund my account?

They responded two days later:

It was when I got a reply email that I first became aware of their VIP trap:

"Thank you for contacting Fabletics and for being a valued VIP Member. We are sorry to hear about the concern regarding the charge.

I do understand your concern today. I see what occurred. A VIP Fabletics Credit was issued to your account. The charge was issued because the option to "Skip The Month" was not selected. This is the feature that allows you to skip and not have a Fabletics Credit be placed in your account.

The Member Credit can be used to place an order. In order to use your member credit select any item priced at $49.95 US or higher, that you wish to purchase and add to your cart. Once you go to the checkout confirmation page it will automatically use your credit towards the purchase.

If you don't wish to have a $49.95 credit added to your account, simply log into your account between the 1st-5th of each month and click the Skip This Month button, located on the upper left side when you log in to your account."

(Note: I looked for this Skip The Month button and never found it.)

The actress is certainly perfect 'fitspiration' to sell the Fabletics brand.

A well-oiled scamming machine

This was just the beginning of my long and annoying correspondence with Fabletics - an offshore company that was making it very difficult for me to get the '5 credits' (aka US$250) put back in my account.

In fact, they made it impossible.

My response to their carefully crafted email - which I have zero doubt they have sent thousands of times before - went like this:

"I never requested to have money taken out of my account every month. And I never selected to be a VIP member. How long has this been happening for? Because this is the first I've noticed of it. Can I request all money that has been unknowingly taken from my account be returned and my membership cancelled?"

I was soon notified that there was no way they could refund my account, as I HAD become a VIP member, and they could not cancel my membership by email - I had to call. They gave me an American number that I could not call in useful Australian hours *great* ... but I did eventually find an Australian-friendly number by hunting through their website (even though I was told such a number didn't exist) and cancelled my membership.

Oh, after spending the US$250 on unnecessary activewear because there was NO way they were giving that back to me.

Thus ended my less-than favourable Fabletics experience.

There have been LOTS of unhappy customers

According to Forbes, Fabletics made US$150 million in sales in 2015 - and I would say a large number of that came from disgruntled consumers like myself.

The ACCC have been able to crack down on the brand by monitoring a number of online forums. America’s Better Business Bureau has received 1400 complaints about Fabletics since 2012, while the company has received a further 82 'terrible' ratings on ScootPrice, reportsnews.com.au.

As a result of pressure from the ACCC, Fabletics has promised to make membership fees clearer, both on their websites and during the checkout process.

Change is coming

A representative from JustFab, Fabletics' parent company made a statement this morning:

“Obtaining guidance from the the ACCC has been very helpful in making sure we communicate in the best way possible. This is particularly important when the membership model in fashion is fairly new for Australia. We are pleased to implement the changes they have asked for, and are taking steps to go far beyond their requests."

They will also add 24/7 support for Aussie customers as of July 1, and release an option to cancel membership online.

While I do admit these sound like promising steps, I can't shake the feeling that this is just further careful steps in the well-oiled Fabletics scam machine.

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